Adding PCIe M.2 x16 adapter [MSI M.2 XPANDER-Z Gen4]

[SimpleDino]

Hi,

 

This my current unRAID setup:

• CPU: Ryzen 3900x
• MB: AsRock X570 Taichi
• PCIe slot 1: Nvidia P2000 for Plex
• PCIe slot 3: AMD rx 580 4GB for VMS (MacOS, Win11, PopOS)

 

I want to add a PCIe m.2 adapter with four m.2 slots (MSI M.2 XPANDER-Z Gen4) into my current build with already two gpus in it.  Some questions below:

• Is it possible to put it in PCIe slot 5?
• Does anyone know if the MB supports Bifurcation?
• Will the x16 PCIE Lanes Configuration change automatically to [x4x4x4]?
• how will this affect performance on the two already installed GPUs?
• Must this be in RAID or JBOD? There is not lot of info on the M.2 adapter.

 

Don't really know how to ask the correct questions here.

 

AsRock X570 Taichi.

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by SimpleDino

[tjb_altf4]

 

If bifurcation is available, it would only work on slot 1 as it needs a slot with x16 lanes.

Its also possible if you did this, using slot 3 might drop slot 1 down to x8 lanes meaning only half the M.2s would work (although this manual snippet doesn't indicate that).

 

If you got it all working, the M.2s would be presented as individual devices, so you could allocate them in Unraid however you wish.

[soerenderfor]

If you already have 2 GPUs, do you have other cards installede? I'm thinking about how many lanes you have, amd ryzen cpus do not have as many as intel cpus. 

But i have Asrock X570 Taichi and a Ryzen 5 5600X, and i also have a Asrock M2 x16 card. I can test if it is possible to use the last x16 slot for that card with 4x4, give me 4-7 days and i will report back

The nvme drives shows op as individual drives.

Edited December 16, 2021 by soerenderfor

[soerenderfor]

@SimpleDino - It works in slot 1, but only if slot 3 is free as @tjb_altf4 said. I have just tested it, it is only possible to get 2 nvme drives visible in unraid, when slot 3 is occopied..

[SimpleDino]

On 12/16/2021 at 12:38 AM, tjb_altf4 said:

 

If bifurcation is available, it would only work on slot 1 as it needs a slot with x16 lanes.

Its also possible if you did this, using slot 3 might drop slot 1 down to x8 lanes meaning only half the M.2s would work (although this manual snippet doesn't indicate that).

 

If you got it all working, the M.2s would be presented as individual devices, so you could allocate them in Unraid however you wish.

Thanks for the answer. I need both the GPUs working and probably all the slots on nvme devices as well so more lanes are needed. I might try to get my hands on a or trade for a threadripper system instead.

 

let's see if I understand correctly:
If PCIE 5 gets populated with the m.2 then PCIE 1 & 3 get down to x8 lanes, correct? And only two m.2 devices shows up in unRAID from the adapter?

 

On 12/16/2021 at 9:00 AM, soerenderfor said:

If you already have 2 GPUs, do you have other cards installede? I'm thinking about how many lanes you have, amd ryzen cpus do not have as many as intel cpus. 

But i have Asrock X570 Taichi and a Ryzen 5 5600X, and i also have a Asrock M2 x16 card. I can test if it is possible to use the last x16 slot for that card with 4x4, give me 4-7 days and i will report back

The nvme drives shows op as individual drives.

No, only two GPUS in PCIE 1 & 3 the rest are unoccupied. I think the more recent consumer intel gen might have more.

14 hours ago, soerenderfor said:

@SimpleDino - It works in slot 1, but only if slot 3 is free as @tjb_altf4 said. I have just tested it, it is only possible to get 2 nvme drives visible in unraid, when slot 3 is occopied..

Ohh nice, that was fast. Thanks for testing it out. Did you try place it in PCIE slot 5? Did you try it with only one GPU or more?

[tjb_altf4]

26 minutes ago, SimpleDino said:

let's see if I understand correctly:
If PCIE 5 gets populated with the m.2 then PCIE 1 & 3 get down to x8 lanes, correct? And only two m.2 devices shows up in unRAID from the adapter?

If you only populate slot 1, it gets x16.

If 1 & 3 get populated, then they get x8 each (or maybe 1 x16 and 1 x8).

Slot 5 only has x4, and if populated it will disable one of the onboard M.2 slots

 

I'm on Threadripper (1950x) for my main unraid system for this exact reason, lots of PCIE lanes: the typical base package gets at least 2 x16, 2 x8 and 3 M.2 (x4)... and you can bifurcate on most mobos also.

Edited December 17, 2021 by tjb_altf4